Kolkata, May 30 (IANS) One cop from either the Kolkata Police or the West Bengal Police will accompany each quick response team (QRT) of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) during the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections covering nine seats in the state on June 1.
Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said the decision has been taken to ensure that a local policeman aware of the topography of the area concerned will enable the QRTs to reach any toupble spot quickly.
The sources also said that the average response time for the QRTs to reach the trouble spots has been fixed at 15 minutes.
During the sixth phase of polling on May 25, the Election Commission received several complaints alleging that the QRTs reached places where opposition candidates were gheraoed and heckled late.
The opposition leader in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, was particularly critical on this matter.
So to avoid the recurrence of such complaints in the seventh phase of polling, the ECI has decided to make the QRTs more active in dealing with any untoward incident.
The nine Lok Sabha seats that will go to the polls on June 1 include Kolkata Dakshin, Kolkata Uttar, Jadavpur, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Basirhat, Barasat, and Dum Dum.
–IANS
src/arm
